Los Angeles, San Bernardino counties prepare for same-sex marriages

Even before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay on an injunction that ordered state officials to stop enforcing Proposition 8 on Friday, San Bernardino and Los Angeles County registrar offices had already laid the groundwork for processing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

With the court's action, counties are allowed to now issue same-sex marriage licenses. The decision followed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling 5-4 Wednesday that the sponsors of Proposition 8, the California's voter-approved gay marriage ban, lacked the authority to defend it in court once top state officials refused to do so.

Los Angeles County had changed the wording on its applications in 2008 for the brief period when same-sex marriages were legal.

"They (the registrar) changed the forms in 2008, they don't say 'bride' and 'groom', they say 'Party A' and 'Party B,'" said Regina Ip, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Voters passed Proposition 8 in 2008, six months after the state Supreme Court ruled that gays had the right to wed. The state high court later ruled that the initiative was a valid state constitutional amendment but upheld the validity of an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that occurred before the election.

San Bernardino Clerk-Recorder's Office is considering making minor changes to their applications in order to make them "more gender neutral."

"Myself and the assessor-recorder talked about modifying that part of the application, but we haven't decided on what we're going to do," said Dan Harp, San Bernardino County assistant assessor-recorder, on Thursday.

Harp said the registrar would not incur an additional cost for the change because the paperwork is digital.

Staffing at both registrar offices will remain the same even through officials anticipate a spike in the number of same-sex couples wanting to tie the knot.

Los Angeles County officials plan to partner with Long Beach and West Hollywood in scheduling civil ceremonies, Ip said.

The process to get married will also remain the same -- fill out the marriage application online or in person and schedule a civil ceremony, if that is the desire of the couple.

In Los Angeles County, couples should bring the completed paperwork into one of eight branch offices and pay $90 for the public license fee. In San Bernardino County, that fee is $88.

"We're ready to go at a moment's notice, we have a well-trained staff as it is, and we've been waiting for this day to come for a while," Harp said.

"Of course, we just didn't know which way the decision was going to be made, but, in anticipating what did happen, we feel we're prepared for it."